Russian YouTuber Taken To Task Over Somalia ‘Documentary’

Mogadishu (PP News Desk) — Anton Lyadov, a Russian YouTuber, visited Somalia several weeks ago to make a documentary for his channel, The People.

His ‘fixers’ in Mogadishu welcomed him and facilitated visits to different parts of the capital city.

During his visits to several markets in the Mogadishu area Lyadov is reported to have felt at home with the locals.

“The outcome of his visit has been a documentary portraying Somalia in way that can only be likened to areas in his homeland under the Russian mafia” says a Somali media analyst in Mogadishu.

On Monday Lyadov took down the documentary after receiving a high number of dislikes and reports to Google.

“Somalis who have watched the documentary have realised it was a hatchet job against Somalia. They did not only dislike the documentary but they also lodged complaints against Lyadov’s channel due to disinformation contained in the documentary” added the media analyst.

Lyadov modelled his documentary on previous documentaries he had produced such as “Most Dangerous State in Mexico” and Venezuela: Most Dangerous City on Planet”.

Abdihafid Jama, an influential Somali YouTuber, described the Somali fixers who had facilitated Lyadov’s entry into Somalia as “lackeys”.

“Lyadov utilises disinformation tactics from the former KGB’s playbook. That he used Youtube as the means to spread disinformation about countries reflects (the) tactics of the fake news purveyors” said Adan Mohamud, a mass communications lecturer in Mogadishu.

This article first appeared in the © Puntland Post, 2021 and is republished with permission